As I described last week, the lifestyle costs for expats is a different universe to most of us. I was once told by a major American IT firm that bringing a 35-45 year old expat boss on a JPY20M salary and his family to Japan costs them between JPY40M and JPY50M a year. This is clearly why most foreign firms have very few expat employees, and those that do have foreigners try to hire them locally.

This week's Gadget Watch takes a look at the effect of the Japanese brand 'National' changing over to become know as 'Panasonic,' Brule's new release of Ultra mobile PCs and Panasonic's two new digital high definition video camcorders.

This week's JIN guides you through the latest edition of J@pan Inc magazine, our 75th issue. Packed with articles on a wide-range of Japan-based topics and more, follow the links to navigate directly to the articles that interest you. Read Now

Terrie starts the year by making ten predictions for 2008. From the credit crunch to politics and from demography to biotechnology, find out what Japan can expect this year. Read Terrie's Take Now